Unilever 2005 Annual Report Download - page 183

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Shareholder information
Unilever Annual Report and Accounts 2005 183
Nature of the trading market
The principal trading markets upon which Unilever shares are
listed are Euronext Amsterdam for NV ordinary shares and the
London Stock Exchange for PLC ordinary shares. NV ordinary
shares mainly trade in the form of depositary receipts for shares
and almost all the shares and depositary receipts thereof are in
bearer form. PLC ordinary shares are all in registered form.
In the United States, NV ordinary shares in registered form and
PLC American Depositary Receipts, each representing four PLC
ordinary shares, are traded on the New York Stock Exchange.
Citibank, NA acts for NV and PLC as issuer, transfer agent and, in
respect of the American Depositary Receipts, depositary.
The NV depositary receipts for ordinary shares are also listed on
the stock exchanges in Frankfurt and Zürich.
There have not been any significant trading suspensions in the
past three years.
At 28 February 2006 there were 7 060 registered holders of NV
ordinary shares and 1 176 registered holders of PLC American
Depositary Receipts in the United States. We estimate that
approximately 28% of NV’s ordinary shares were held in the
United States (approximately 27% in 2004), based on the
distribution of the 2005 interim dividend payments, while
most holders of PLC ordinary shares are registered in the United
Kingdom – approximately 99% in both 2005 and 2004.
The high and low trading prices for the separate stock exchange
listings are shown in the tables on the following page.
NV and PLC are separate companies with separate stock exchange
listings and different shareholders. Shareholders cannot convert or
exchange the shares of one for shares of the other and the
relative share prices on the various markets can, and do,
fluctuate. This happens for various reasons, including changes in
exchange rates. However, over time the prices of NV and PLC
shares do stay in close relation to each other, in particular because
of our equalisation arrangements.
If you are a shareholder of NV, you have an interest
in a Netherlands legal entity, your dividends will be paid in euros
(converted into US dollars if you have shares registered in the
United States) and you will be subject to Netherlands tax. If you
are a shareholder of PLC, your interest is in a United Kingdom
legal entity, your dividends will be paid in sterling (converted into
US dollars if you have American Depositary Receipts) and you will
be subject to United Kingdom tax. Nevertheless, the Equalisation
Agreement means that as a shareholder of either company you
effectively have an interest in the whole of Unilever. You have
largely equal rights over our combined net profit and capital
reserves as shown in the consolidated accounts. See Taxation for
US residents on pages 184 and 185 and Equalisation Agreement
on pages 41 and 42.